Apparatus for holding toilet-paper



2 sheets-sheet 1.-

(No Model.)

Patented Feb. 15, 1887 A w m E WITNESSES (No Model.)

7 2 SheetsSheet. 2. O. H. HIUK$. APPARATUS FOR HOLDING TOILET PAPER. NO. 357,993.

Patented Feb. 15, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OLIVER HEWVLETT HICKS, OF CHICAGO, ILLI NO IS.

APPARATUS FOR HOLDING TOILET-PAPER.

$PECIEICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 357,993, dated February 15, 1887.

Application filed February 9, 1885. Serial No. 155,464. (No model.)

to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and to the figures and letters of reference marked thereon.

Heretofore toilet-paper has been put up in rolls of continuous lengths and hung in suitable bearings so as to be removed as needed, and in some instances the paper has been perforated transversely at regular intervals to enable the user to, with greater convenience, tear off portions of the requisite length; or in lieu of this a cutter has been arranged in proximity to the roll to enable the quantity pulled off the roll to be conveniently severed. A well-founded objection has been urged against each of these arrangements-to wit, that the employment of them entails a great waste of paper, since in alarge majority of in stances, from the freedomwith which the paper is unwound from the roll, a much larger quan tity is withdrawn than is needed.

The object of my invention is to so arrange the paper as to prevent more than a given quantity of it from being withdrawn from the roll at a single operation, and so that in the act of withdrawing such given quantity it shall be automatically severed from the roll, leaving pendent from the roll a free end, which shall serve as a means for withdrawing a like given quantity by the nextv user.

In order that others may acquire a full undcrstanding of my invention, I will now proceed to describe it with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a top view of the fixture and roll; Fig. 2, a longitudinal vertical section of the same; Fig. 3, an end view, and

Fig. 4a view of the core-plate detached. Figs;

5 and 6 are views of modified forms of the invention.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures indicate the same parts.

The letter A represents a plate or backing adapted to be secured to a wall or other ob ject, and having extending from it two springarms, E E, which have near their outer ends bearings H H, for the accommodation of the journals or pivots of a core-plate, F, arranged within the roll of paper. Between the arms E E, and near their inner portions, extends a plate, M, the outer edge of which may be made either plain or serrated, though I by preference make it serrated, as shown in Fig.1.

The roll of toilet-paper B has a large cen tral opening for the accommodation of the core-plate F, and when slipped upon said coreplate assumes an elongated or oval shape, as shown.

In applying the roll of paper to the fixture the core-plate is first slipped into it and is then connected to the arms E E by springing the latter outward sufficiently to permit the pivots or journals of said core-plate to be entered in the bearings H H of said arms, as will be readily understood. or journals are located out of line with the center of gravity of the plate, in order that one side of a said core-plate shall normally hang downward and tend to hold the roll of paper in substantially the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3. This result may be eifected either by arranging the pivots eccentrically to the coreplate or by attaching them centrally thereto and having one side of. the coreplate heavier than the other.

With the roll hung in the manner described, the operation of unwinding and severing paper from it is as follows: The depending end C is grasped by the user and pulled, and the roll is thereby rotated until arrested by its upper portion coming in contact with the plate M, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2. As soon as this arrest of the motion of the roll takes place the depending portion of the paper becomes drawn tightly over the edge of the plate M, and can be severed at that point, either by a continued pull on the paper or by a lateral tearing motion. The roll is released by the severance of the end and swings back toward first position, bringing up against the under side of the plate M, and by the jar im parted to it by contact with said plate causes the new end of paper to drop down into position to be grasped by the next user.

It will be observed that the plate M per- By preference the pivots '13 forms the function of a stop for arresting the forward rotation of the roll and holding the roll while the section of paper is being removed, as well as the function of severing said section of paper; and its importance as a stop is as great, if not greater, than its importance as a cutter, since the stopping of the roll, coupled with the'continued movement of the free end of the paper, must necessarily cause the severance of the paper at some point. at or near the point the end leaves the body of the roll.

From the preceding description it is clear that only a limited amount of paper can be removed from the roll at any one operation, and that the circumference of the roll fixes the limit of length of the portion detached.

It may be stated that to obtain the most practical and economical results the roll of paper, when in cylindrical form, and before the core-plate is applied to it, should have an internal diameter of not less than twice the thickness of its superposed layers.

I prefer rolls of an interior diameter of, say, two inches and three-quarters and an external diameter of about five inches. When these proportions are not substantially followed, the last sheets severed from the roll will either be too short or the first sheets will be too long, resulting on the one hand in an insufficient article, and on the other hand in an unnecessary waste of material.

Instead of weighting the coreplate to cause it to return the roll after the latter has been oscillated in one direction by the pull on the paper, a spring, S, may be arranged on the core-plate in such manner as to strike one of the arms E and by its rebound return the roll to first position, as shown in Fig. 5.

A round roll may be substituted for the oval one, in which case an arm, A, to throw the roll out of balance, and a distance-determinating stop, A must be substituted for the oval roll and weighted core-plate, as shown in Fig. 6.

I do not specifically claim herein the form of construction of the oval roll, since it is made the subject-matter of a separate original application filed by me on the 10th day of July, 1885.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination, with an oscillating roll of toilet-paper actuated in one direction by a pull upon its free end, of a stop for arresting the roll at the limit of its motion when so actuated, whereby upon the arrest of the roll a portion unwound from it may be removed, substantially as described.

2. The combination,with an oscillating roll of toilet-paper actuated in one direction by a pull upon its free end, of stops for arresting the roll at the limit of its motion when so actuated, and also for arresting the motion of said roll at the limit of the oscillation in the opposite direction, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with an oscillating roll of toilet-paper having its bearings out of line with its center of gravity'and actuated in one direction by a pull upon its free end, of a stop for arresting the roll at the limit of its motion when so actuated, whereby when the roll has been arrested and the length of paper removed the roll will automatically resume its normal position, substantially as described.

4. The combination,with an oscillating roll of toilet-paper,of a cutter cooperating to sever the unwound portion when the roll has reached the limit of its movement in one direction, and means, substantially as described, for automatically bringing the roll back to normal position, as set forth.

5. The combination, with the supportingarms, of an oscillating core-plate weighted on one side of its pivots, so as to cause the roll supported by it to automatically resume its normal position after being oscillated, and a stop for limiting the motion of said plate, substantially as described.

oLivna HEWLETT HICKS.

Witnesses:

THno. L. BERGEN, G. S. WVHEELER. 

